Keeping Dog Poop in the Loop:

Minimizing single-use plastic bags in landfills

Marissa Crosswhite

ENVS2000

University of Lethbridge

March 15, 2021

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 In 2018, there was concern that the City of Lethbridge would shut down Scenic Drive’s

popular off-leash dog run due to the amount of abandoned dog poop; rightfully so, as the

abundance of fecal matter increases disease and pathogen risk, along with nutrient imbalances

and health hazards for our coulee ecosystem. To mitigate these risks and bring awareness to this

issue, volunteers scoured the park and added a pink flag to each spot they cleaned. Their supply

of 500 flags quickly ran out after just 400 meters. Today, the park is open, and still littered with

feces.

The City advises pet owners to remove dog waste using a plastic bag, tightly tying it, and

dropping into a waste receptacle. They facilitate this by providing doggy bags and garbages

around the city, including convenient locations at the Scenic Drive Dog Run (SDDR) and

Popson Park (PP) trail loops. They ‘enforce’ this using signage and by-laws. It’s clear that the

City recognizes this as a problem, and as Canada moves toward a zero-plastic waste by 2030,

I’m asking our community to work toward a better solution.

People who abandon their dog’s poop on the ground are leaving an organic substance

that will break down, change form, and re-enter the carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen cycles. Yes,

there’s ecological risk, but I disagree when the City refers to this as being an ‘irresponsible’ pet

owner. In comparison, those who are ‘following the rules’, are just moving the problem

elsewhere. An article from the Lethbridge Herald in 2020 identified 12,000 Lethbridge dogs

create about 1.4 million kg of annual waste. Our solution should combine our need for healthy

spaces with sustainability.

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 In 2017, Waterloo, Ontario, implemented a program that collected dog waste and

converted it into energy using anaerobic digestion. They added special receptacles for poop at

three of their parks and expanded to seven parks after one year. These receptacles collect all bag

types, which get sent to an off-site bio-digester where the poop is converted to electricity, heat,

and fertilizer. Over the first year, nearly 8000 kg of waste was collected. This powered 18

homes.

In 2016, three parks in North Vancouver added dog waste receptacles. Similarly, any bag

types were accepted and sent off-site for processing. This story was unique because two people

were cutting the bags open with scissors before taking the poop to a wastewater treatment plant.

Over the year, nearly 6000 kg of waste was collected.

Although these programs are wonderful and introduce us to a new component for our

solution: harnessing energy from poop, neither seem to focus on the issue of single-use plastic

bags. Keeping these out of landfills is imperative.

In 2010, grad students in Cambridge, Massachusetts created “The Park Spark Project”

with funding from the Council of the Arts. This was an above ground, anaerobic digester, that

accepted dog poop in biodegradable bags. The digester was placed in one park and supplied bags

for doggy donations. After the donation, the pet owner turned a crank which mixed the waste and

produced methane. This was connected to a lamp post, which burned an “eternal flame”, and

converted the methane to carbon dioxide and water.

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 In 2018, a similar anaerobic digester in the UK extracted 2 hours of light from 10 bags of

poop. These projects created interactive solutions for the community, while keeping plastic bags

out of landfills.

There are aspects from each of these projects that Lethbridge can learn from, improve,

and implement. First and foremost: bags. Right now, the debate focuses on whether people pick

up the poop or not. You’re either ‘responsible’ or you’re not. But we throw it away and don’t

think about it again - that’s not being responsible. There are many compostable options already

out there that should become the norm within our city. These bags are made from recycled paper,

vegetable oils, plants, and water-based inks. The city should replace all plastic bags with a

compostable option, and then update the wording on their website instructing ‘responsible’ dog

owners to pick-up using a compostable bag instead of plastic.

Second, we might miss the mark if we don’t create a better destination for our

compostable poop packages, and I’m inspired by The Park Spark Project. This as an opportunity

for our community to collaborate with university students, arts and Indigenous communities, to

add anaerobic digesters to SDDR and PP. These parks could have collaborative, functional, and

educational installments that encourage children, and adults alike, to learn about this alternative

biofuel, engage in their pets’ impact on the planet, and take ownership for a healthy and

sustainable city.

Third, is to plan for long-term and large-scale solutions. This may feel like an ambitious

leap when we lack city-wide composting services; however, this puts us in an advantageous

position to be innovative and creative with our solutions. Let’s start at SDDR and PP, because

these are concentrated locations to collect and use biofuels on-site and see immediate, and

significant, results. Later, let’s expand throughout the city to harvest all 1.4 million kg of

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potential energy from parks and neighbourhoods using compostable, digester-friendly bags and

accessible receptacles. Regular collections could be bound to the nearby biogas plant for energy

extraction (bag and all), which could be used in many ways. The UK implemented one option in

2014: a fully powered bus from sewage and food waste, which travels nearly 300 km from one

fill-up.

Word count: 901

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 Sources of Information

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2018, October 9). More waterloo parks to get dog poop

recycling containers. CBC News. Retrieved from

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/dog-waste-pilot-project-expands-to-

4-more-parks-waterloo-1.4855222.

Christy, A. (2013, January 3). Anaerobic digestion and other alternatives for dog waste

management and education in Thurston County. Retrieved from

http://www.pacshell.org/power-of-poo.asp.

City of Lethbridge (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.lethbridge.ca/living-here/Animals-

Wildlife/Pages/Responsible-Dog-Owner.aspx.

Feldkamp, L. (2014, December 2). Citizen science Tuesday: Poopower! Cool Green Science.

Retrieved from https://blog.nature.org/science/2014/12/02/citizen-science-poo-power-

biogas-water-quality-dog-bacteria/.

Fleming, N. (2018, January 1). From stools to fuels: the street lamp that runs on dog do. The

Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/01/stools-

to-fuels-street-lamp-runs-on-dog-poo-bio-energy-waste-.

Fominoff, L. (2018, May 24). Dog owners urged to clean up after their pets or potentially risk

closure of popular Scenic Drive dog run. Lethbridge News Now. Retrieved from

https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2018/05/24/dog-owners-urged-to-clean-up-after-their-

pets-or-potentially-risk-closure-of-popular-scenic-drive-dog-run/.

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Geier, E. (2021, March 2). If you use biodegradable poop bags, you need to read this. The Dog

People. Retrieved from https://www.rover.com/blog/reviews/truth-about-biodegradable-

poop-bags/.

K9Clean (n.d.). Retrieved from https://k9clean.com/shop/eco-poop-scoop-bags/.

Mazzotta2 (2010, November 15). The Park Spark Project – How it works. Youtube. Retrieved

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBaGXXG_A_4.

Pawson, C. (2017, March 13). Dog poop diversion programs a boon for workers not afraid to get

hands dirty. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-

columbia/red-bin-dog-poop-bins-metro-vancouver-bill-droeske-1.4021452.

Southern Alberta Group for the Environment (2020, May 15). What do to with doggie poo?

Lethbridge Herald. Retrieved from https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/lethbridge-

news/2020/05/15/what-do-to-with-doggie-poo/.

The Canadian Press (2017, April 24). Waterloo to turn dog poop into power, through new pilot

program. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-

waterloo/waterloo-dog-poop-power-energy-jaworsky-1.4082421.

The Park Spark Project (n.d.). Retrieved from https://parksparkproject.com/home.html.

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